THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN “GILDA” AND “CASABLANCA”

Gilda could be described as Casablanca with neurotics for the lead characters.  There are enough similarities to suggest that Gilda was written on orders from Harry Cohn or another high-up Columbia executive consciously attempting to duplicate Casablanca’s financial success.

• Here is what I’ve noticed:
• Both films take place in exotic foreign countries (Morocco in Casablanca, Argentina in Gilda)
• In both films, a gambling casino is the central location.  Gambling is illegal in both places.  The casino has a high-class feel in both films.
• The main plot of both films is a love triangle between two men and one woman.  The woman is married to one of the men.
• In both films, the woman enters a relationship with the second man when she believes that the first man--who is also her husband--is dead (Victor Laszlo in Casablanca, Balon Munson in Gilda).
• In both films, the woman had never expected to see the second man again, but when she does meet him again, the love affair begins anew.  (Here, there is a distinct difference between the films: in Casablanca, Rick was someone who originally came into her Ilsa’s life after she was informed of Laszlo’s death and before she learned he was still alive; in Gilda, Johnny Farrow had parted with Gilda before she ever met Munson, and her second affair with him occurs while she is married to Munson and while he is present and known to be alive.)
• The head police official in each film (Capt. Reneau in Casablanca, The Prefect in Gilda) knows that illegal gambling is going on at the casino, but allows it while he waits to make a more important arrest which he expects to make at the casino.
• The head police official in both films closes the casino near the end of the film.  In Casablanca, Capt. Reneau closes the casino when Victor Laszlo creates a conflict between Reneau and Strassa.  In Gilda, the Prefect closes the casino when Johnny won’t cooperate in the investigation of the tungsten cartel.
• The head police official in each film covers up the killing of the villain (Major Strassa in Casablanca, Balon Munson in Gilda).  In Casablanca, Reneau announces "Round up the usual suspects," although he had seen Rick shoot in self-defense.  In Gilda, the Prefect perpetuates the lie that Munson had committed suicide three months earlier, and suggests that the killing would have been found by the courts as justifiable homicide.  (The issue of the Prefect overlooking the killing is somewhat compounded in Gilda since we don’t know whether the Prefect had known whether the killing was done by Johnny or by Papa Pio.)  (Notice an important difference between the two films: the villain and murder victim is outside the romantic triangle in Casablanca, but part of it in Gilda.)
• The heroine is not first seen in both films until about 15-20 minutes after it has begun.
• In both films, the first close-up of the lead actress (Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, Rita Hayworth in Gilda) is exceptionally beautiful and emotional, and in both cases probably the single best close-up of that star in the actress’s entire career.  In both films, she is reacting to the sight of seeing the man from her past for the first time in a long time, not having expected to ever again see him.
• In both films, the first exchange of glances between the heroine and the man from her past, tells up that they’ve previously known each other, that there’s unresolved issues between them.  In Casablanca, Bergman’s face shows sorrow and high regard, and Bogart’s shows bitterness and pain, and feelings of having been betrayed; in Gilda, Hayworth’s face shows scorn, bitterness, and the feeling of having been betrayed, and Glenn Ford’s face shows hatred and disgust and the bitter awareness that she is right for him.
• The husband in both films seems oblivious at first that his wife has unresolved feelings for the second man, but in both films he reveals that he had caught on.  In Casablanca, it’s not until Victor talks privately to Rick about Victor’s cause and Rick’s ideals that Victor says that he had known from the first night at Rick’s that something had gone on between Rick and Ilsa but "no one is to blame."  In Gilda, Balon says bluntly to Gilda when they’re alone that he there was the previous relationship.  (The films are somewhat different when it comes to what the husband says privately to the wife.  Privately, Victor had asked Ilsa whether she had been lonely in Paris, attempting to prod from her an admission of her having known Rick, but when Ilsa volunteers no information, Victor asks nothing more but offers words of solace.  Gilda is different in that Balon says incontrovertibly "you knew him before.")
• One of the two men owns and operates the casino.
• The past love affair took place in a place far away (Paris in Casablanca, New York in Gilda).
• In both films, the second man came from New York (Rick had lived there before being in the Spanish Civil War, Ethiopia, Paris and Casablanca.  Johnny seems to have gone directly from New York to Buenos Aires.)
• In both films, the hero and heroine dance at roughly the film’s midpoint.  In Casablanca, Rick and Ilsa become close, wordlessly.  In Gilda, Johnny and Gilda seem intent on deceiving each other, even as they admit unpleasant things.
• In both films, there is a disparaging remark about how commonplace are women.  In Casablanca, Capt. Reneau remarks "How extravagant throwing away women like that.  Someday they may be scarce."  In Gilda, Johnny remarks, "Statistics show that there are more women in the world than anything else--except insects."
• Both storylines involve documents that are important for the police and the main characters to obtain, but needn’t be described in detail.  In Casablanca, they are the letters of transit.  In Gilda, they are the contracts that establish the tungsten cartel.

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